My mind has been blown...

Sure you don't mean "boggled"?

Actually...yes

Also: I think it would be pronounced just how it's spelt, Kre-zy-zewsky.

Remember that beer commercial (bud light?) where the limo driver had a sign that said "M. Krzyzewski" and the pitch man was like "yes, I'm Mr. ker-zi-ze-wuski"...

Funny how it never occured to anyone that in Polish, they pronounce things differently. And since Americans aren't exactly the most linguistically gifted of people, Shesheffskee is the closest thing possible.

And it's not the only name people butcher...

With many names these days it's best to hear how the person pronounces their name!

In America we pronounce your name just like you spell it.

So spell it right.


edit:

Here's an example...

I was in a meeting at work. Some lady was reading the names of people that were assigned to each project. When she came across the name Lilitha Spencer, she pronounced it just like it was spelled. Almost immediately, Lilitha spoke up with a correction..."It's Latisha or just Tish".

Without missing a beat, the lady apologized and then added, "Oh. So that's a 'hard L' in your name?"

"Yes", Lilitha replied.


I was about to lose my cool. "Hard L" ?? wtf? There's no such thing. Unless you guys can show me another instance where "L" is pronounced as "T" I'm just gonna assume Lilitha's momma simply couldn't spell and got her daughters name wrong.

It's just like how the hell those crazy Japanese get from ?? to "Tanaka".

I mean, sheesh.

If they can't spell their own names, they might as well stay at home.
So they draw pictures? What is this, kindergarten?

-s*

Edit: WTF - Safari can't post its own ****ing Japanese encoding? Get real. ****s.

Hi, I'm Ghoti.

J

Waroavka - my family's original last name. Nobody could say it correctly, so my grandparents had it changed to its current spelling, Warofka, which still gives many people a hard time.

It is supposed to be said, war-off-kuh, but I've had people say it warp-fla, wa-rokka, etc.

Oddly enough, someone told me that it means "thief" in Russian. Does anybody know if this is actually true?

so your saying jose should be pronounce joe-see

phillip should be pronounced pee-hillip, etc., etc., etc.

for simple minded people i guess.

polish names are pronounced how they would be in poland. you cant go by western alphabet spelling and pronunciation. but i would suggest anyone to change the spelling to the polish pronunciation to make things easier.

fixed...

cry all you want about it.

your name will still be pronounced like it's spelled.

i just want to say:

WHY MAKE LIFE HARDER FOR OTHER PEOPLE? If i was him, i'd give up culture and ethnicity so I and my kids can have a life where people don't **** up my name for a lifetime.

As if English even has any consistent rules of pronunciation.

For example, how is "ough" pronounced? Is it the same in rough, plough, through, fought, though, and cough?

An asshole like you would probably make fun of someone who was pronouncing your name according to Polish rules. But you can't be bothered to pay anyone else the simple respect of at least trying to pronounce his/her name the way it is supposed to be pronounced.

I think my name sounds just about the same in Polish, Italian, and English. Call me lucky.

Reminds me of that:

"Just a note that I know a guy named ********, pronounced Shih-theed. He is Indian, and was in my sister's class at an international school in Indonesia."

Just a urban legend, but still a good laugh.

-t

Actually, I'd say Shashefski is closer than Kre-zy-zowski. Allow me to elaborate (I don't speak Polish, but I know the pronunciation fairly well):

Rz is a diphthong in Polish, pronounced like zh (ie. as the s in "vision" or "measure"; a voiced variant of sh).

Y is usually a kind of schwa sound in Polish, a short "uh" sound.

I'm guessing the second z in Krzyzewski is probably not a z in Polish, but a ż, which is pronounced sort of like rz, but more palatalised (the sound doesn't exist in English, so I can't really explain it properly).

W is always pronounced as a v in Polish, never as a w. The letter v is not used in Polish, only w. Or rather - it's not always a v, because before or after unvoiced consonants, the v becomes unvoiced as well, as in English, and turns into an f. For the w sound, the Polish use ł instead (that's an l with a slash across it).

Stress normally goes on the paenultimate syllable.

So the Polish would pronounce Krzyżewski sort of like Kzhuh-ZHEF-ski.

Unless of course you didn't give a fiddler's fart about all this and just wanted to make fun of Mike Krzyzewski's name...

Warp-fla? Are you sure that person could read?

Warofka looks more Polish or Czech/Slovak than Russian, actually. Turn of fate, changing your name from Russian to Polish, eh?



Yup, just did a quick online translator searchy thingy - apparently воровка (vorovka, but pronounced varofka) does mean thief:

воров|ка
ж. thief*;
~ски thievishly, dishonestly;
(опаслив&#1086 furtively;
like a thief*;
~ской thieves`;
~ской язык, жаргон thieves` cant;
~ской притон den of thieves;
~ство с. stealing.

You forgot "lough".

-s*

Well, thanks for confirming it for me. Not exactly something to be proud of having for a last name, but it does make for an interesting conversation.

As for "warp-fla", that was how the one woman at my grandmother's retirement home said our name. How she got that is beyond me.

Actually, the Italian version of your name would probably be Vincenzo or Vincetti.

But don't you think it's arrogant to tell people how to pronounce or spell their names? English is notorious for having no real rules of pronunciation, and the fact that your first name could be mistaken for A-Local-Area-Network is indicative of that, isn't it?

But whatever, Polish names are notoriously difficult to pronounce for all the world's people who don't know the pronunciation rules, but just about everyone is every nation does this with some foreign names. After having worked in Turkey and bothered to learn a bit of the language, I cringe every time I hear a German newsreader totally mispronounce Turkish sirnames, but it's actually quite understandable, since German doesn't have the same pronunciation rules as Turkish does.

Aren't names really just sounds anyway, with the written forms just an added communication layer?

J

Has he "officially" rejected the Lakers offer yet making the Lakers spiral even worse into a black hole of despair?

shut up scat





i mean scaught

No I don't think it's arrogant to state a well-known fact. In The US your name stands a 99.995% chance of being pronounced the way it's spelled - in English. There are simply too many nationalities and dialects represented in the US to expect folks to somehow *know* by looking at a piece of paper exactly where the hell a particular name originated.

Common (obvious) "foreign" names are typically pronounced somewhat correctly.

And while my name is very simple to pronounce, it's forever being swapped around. Seems it sounds better when my last name is first.

Actually, I use my middle name as my first name. Confused yet?

You thought by putting foreign in quotes would hide your feelings towards U.S. peeps who don't fit into your mold.

Funny too, how foreign is spelled and pronounced. One can only wonder how you pronounce it.

Hide my feelings?

heh. This is Spliffdaddy you're talking to.

You must be foreign or something.